Create Retreat Words from the Heart

Words from the heart was a 3 hour class, shorter than most of the others that I have taken. This class was fabulous as I learned how to stamp words into metal.  There were many great tools for stamping, embossing, and etching.  The hearts are adhered with brads, nails, screws,  and jump rings. These will become great additions to my art quilts.

Create Mixed Media Art Retreat DAy #3 Shibori Fabric

 

Cindy our instructor showing off one of her Shibori dyed fabrics.

Shibori Dying was such a great class. Taught by Cindy, this was 6 hours of pure fun. We learned many different methods. This included Arashi, Itajemi, Kanoko and Komo. We used this beautiful deep blue dye similar to indigo.  These prints were extremely fun to make.  There will definitely be more of this fabric dying in my future!

Create Mixed Media Retreat Day #2 Machine Needle Felting: Layered and Textured

Today my good friend Patty and I took the Machine Needle Felting Class. It was 6 hours of pure heaven.  We were able to make two felted art quilts. We still have the option of adding beads, sequins, and hand stitching. So these are our works in progress.

Patty was working towards a landscape above. I was working towards abstraction.

Each piece contained a wool background, silk roving, wool roving, sari ribbon, yarn, cheese cloth, organza, chiffon and even paper.

 This is the entire class during show and tell!

Patty and I with Jane Lafazio--one of my favorite artists and instructors.  What a pleasure to take two her classes, two days in a row.

Create Seattle

Finding the balance between life, travel and art has been a challenge. But this week I have combined all three. Getting back to my favorite art pursuit…..Art Quilting…this time in Seattle.

This is day one of the art retreat spent with one of my favorite fiber artists, Jane Lafazio. These projects take a significant amount of time, so  instead of posting just the completed project, I will post the project as I progress through the various stages.

This course was called Free Spirited Free Motion Art Quilting.  Fabric, paper and free motion drawing with the sewing machine.  What more could you ask for?

This is the project, with still many hours left to go to finish…..

Recycle 8 Screen Printing Recycled Fabric Samples

Some projects just take time. This one doesn't! I had taken a course from Lynn Krawczyk. Worth every penny. She is a thermofax screen printing goddess. She also is the model for using everyday items when leaving her mark. She has a new book out called Intentional Printing. I strongly encourage anyone interested in trying this technique to get this book.

I use a variety of screen printing inks and paints. I like the speedball paints. Due to their thickness, they leave a definitive mark.

Each of the two screen printing fabric swatches are made on recycled fabric samples. The fabric is upholstery fabric and I was able to get these samples for $.10 a piece. It makes messing up so much easier!  I used a combination of thermofax screens and recycled objects.

The found objects are old ribbon spools, thread spools, pool noodle and the top to a small round box! Happy printing.....I will be using these fabric pieces in up coming projects.  Relove it!

Recycle 7 ATC 141-145

 ATC 141 Soar

This ATC was made using some recycled paper towel. I used the paper towel to wipe my water color brush. I also used recycled dictionary text. The image, The Girl With the Pearl Earring has got to be one of my favorite paintings of all time. Considered the Mona Lisa of the north I am just enamored with it.

 ATC 142 Where to?

This uses recycled cardboard as the base. The lace at the top is reclaimed bias tape. It has such a delicate appearance.

 ATC Wish

This card also features recycled cardboard and bias tape. I love travel and so the suit case suits me perfectly.

 ATC 144 Paris

This ATC has recycled cardboard and dictionary text. My favorite part of this card is the music notes. There is something so artful in the musical staff.

ATC 145 Feather

This ATC was made on recycled cardboard with some recycled scraps of decorative paper that were salvaged prior to being put in the trash. The No. 12 is a rub on transfer. These rub ons add such a great element of text to these ATC cards.

Although I have been away from the blog for a while, I am working on some much more involved projects. Looking forward to a summer full of art.

Recycle 6 Recycle Paper and Make a Bound Paper Journal

This week in the Delta College Fiber Art Club we used paper to make our own bound journals. So this incorporated new, used, recycled and RELOVED paper! We were able to learn how to bind a book using wax and thread. We were able to learn terms like signature and kettle stitch.

Here is Sherri our fearless leader and volunteer! She is getting us all set up.  Everyone had to bring 30 pages of paper, any kind of paper.  There were maps, music sheets, recycled tests, notes, scrap booking paper, and I brought some fabric paper. Can't forget our handmade paper from last week is included too!









Ellen and Jennifer are getting ready to make the signatures.























Stacks and stacks of reloved paper!





















My book--love the recycled road atlas!  Bound with color string!

















My book on the left! Can't wait to decorate this journal for a future post!

















Our collective journals!

Recycle 5 Making Paper from Recycled Paper

Well my recycle project for 2014 has not been as productive as I would like, but for those that know me, despite obstacles I won't give up. We may have to change my goal of one recycled project per to week to one per month!
The Delta College Fiber Arts Club started today and we made paper from recycled paper. Sheri Archer is our mentor and what a blast.  Here are some pictures from our paper making!

Carl is to the right.  He is getting ready to Mix the Pond. This is a very fun bin of water and ripped/shredded/blended paper scraps in water. Looks like a pond!! Smells like one too!

 Rachel our president with our secretary getting ready to couch pronounced (Koosh) the paper! (aka flipping the screen over!!)

 Ellen is diddling the pond. No folks I am not making this up. That is the correct words.

This is what the paper looks like when it is on the couch! We are leaving it to dry and next week we are binding our own art journals!

Ceramics Finale

Ceramics II came to a close. This was a fun class especially since we did our critique with everyone's pieces all at once. It is amazing what to see what you can accomplish in 15 weeks.  My pieces are up on top. My favorite are the VW bug, with it's junk yard weathered look and the small tiles in which I used thermofax screens. I will feature those separate at some point.

To the right is a view of the entire class!

 To the left are Tom's. He did some amazing pieces. My favorite is his baseball glove. He built a mold out of plaster and then cast the piece. For his first go at ceramics, he hit it out of the park and had the most interesting pieces in the class.

To the right are Ellen's fish. She has a water pond and plans to put these near her garden/pond.
We are off to use the wheel to "throw pots" on tuesday. Can't wait.

Drawing Finale

 The finale....finished. It is hard to believe that I have finished all my studio art classes for my associates. It has been so worth it. I have learned so much and it has forced me to try things that I certainly would not have, if left to my own devices.

My drawing instructor was amazing. He was always able to provide constructive feedback, while finding something positive even in the midst of the biggest mess.

Our final drawing project was really fun. Any subject, any medium, four renditions....

 The first jeep was done with graphite.
The one to the right with charcoal.

Since I also had Painting II in which I used oils, I jumped in with acrylics. These two jeeps were my favorite.

This last is my own jeep. A 2001 rusty jeep with 150K miles. I still love it and I am so happy that I was able to paint it!

Phototransfer Drawing Projects

 Well posting has become less frequent, life has a way of throwing some curve balls.....Hopefully with spring on the way I will be back into the artful swing of things.

This project was for my drawing II class. We had to complete an image transfer. This required selecting a photograph. The image is transferred using gel medium. We then altered the image using either additional images, drawing, sketching or painting.

 Adam did a cell block with additional painted items. We all felt it was like a torture chamber which added that eery appeal.

To the right is Kendra's. Kendra did a tribute to Nazi concentration camps. Hers is so amazing. She transferred multiple images and then added her own hand writing from Anne Frank's diary.

The left is my transfer. I took this picture of a pumpkin barn from Northern Michigan. It is one of my favorite places to visit every fall. I added the trick or treaters and pumpkin gathering family.

Tom's is to the right. He used a photo of cars on an expressway and added the flooded water. I love the fact that he added the fisherman. It is just an interesting juxtaposition.


To the left, Tom did a second transfer of a boat and city on the water. He then added a number of different images.

Painting II

 Well, although my life is still full of small speed bumps, I must say the funnest of them is Painting II. I just love this class. There are lots of struggles for me in this class. We have decided I paint best sleep deprived. As crazy as that sounds, I am much more intuitive and less precise when I am tired. So embracing this new sleep deprived phase of my life.  Here are some of my paintings.



The painting on the left is done on unstretched canvas. Duck cloth to be precise. I had hoped to actually quilt this painting. This picture was taken on Mackinac Island in August of 2011. I happened to be waiting outside of a store and saw this precious little girl looking at the art. I just had to paint it!

 Matt worked for the DNR. My good friend Tim Kaufman allowed me to use his photograph to paint from. He took this photograph using his 800 mm lens. This happens every spring when the DNR bands the baby eagles. The DNR agents climb the tress and pull the eagles down to get banded. The eagles are then put back into the nest. Apparently the parents just circle, but do not attack. This little guy gave matt quite the talking too. This photograph has been published in the National Audubon Society Publication.

This picture was also taken by Tim Kaufman (www.timkaufmanphoto.com). It is a Pileated Woodpecker in his hole. I just love this picture. Again Tim graciously agreed to let me paint his work! This was also done on unstretched canvas. Although I have a lot of room for growth, this is by far my favorite class. It is 6 hours long on a friday and I can't think of a better way to spend the day.